enjoy c:

Percy woke up the next morning completely unrested. He had stressed through the entire night, causing him to get only about two hours of sleep and he felt quite horrible.

He wasn't exactly required to go to work since he was the owner, he just didn't like to sit in his apartment all day. But today seemed like a good day to sleep in. He knew Lilly would appreciate it too.

Percy rolled over on his stomach and dreamt about Annabeth. She was laughing, the sun behind her causing a soft glow to illuminate her and her hair so that it looked like a golden halo. She kissed him and Percy could have sworn it was real.

He woke up at two in the afternoon, groggy and confused. He sat up and pulled on a pair of sweatpants before shuffling into the living room. Lilly was sat in front of the TV watching a Barbie movie she put in herself. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was tangled.

"Good morning, princess," Percy said as he sat down on the floor next to her.

"Morning Daddy," she whispered, her eyes not leaving the screen. She had a baby doll in her lap and she was clutching it tightly.

"Did you have breakfast?" he asked. She shook her head.

"You want some waffles?"

"Yeah!"

Percy tapped her back and went into the kitchen to put some frozen waffles into the toaster oven. He leaned against the counter while waiting for them to cook. Distant music started playing and Percy was sure it was the movie Lilly was watching.

The toaster oven dinged and Percy pulled out the two waffles. His stomach was churning because he was nervous about everything so he didn't make any waffles for himself. He was nervous about Lilly starting school in a month, nervous about the whole thing with Annabeth, and definitely nervous about Mia being back in New York. He couldn't eat with all this stress.

He poured a little syrup on the waffles, cut them up into bite size pieces, and fixed a small glass of milk before shuffling back into the living room.

"Thanks Daddy!" Lilly said as she took the plate from him.

"You're welcome."

Percy heard the music again but he knew it wasn't the movie this time because there was music already playing. He suddenly remembered he left his phone in his room and, thinking it was his mom, he jumped off the floor and ran into his room. The name on the screen was, in fact, not his mom, but Annabeth. Percy stared at it for a moment, sure she's realize she dialed the wrong number. But it rang three more times and he scrambled to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Annabeth said and Percy felt his lips twitch into a smile.

"Hey," he repeated, sitting on the edge of his bed. He was glad to hear Annabeth's voice.

"Um...can I talk to you?" she asked quietly. Percy sat up a little straighter. She wanted to talk?

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead," he replied quickly.

"Well, I thought maybe we could do it in person?" Her voice was much softer than it has been over the past week and Percy felt himself relaxing. Maybe she would finally explain what happened.

"Uh, yeah! Me and Lilly are just watching TV. You can come over if you want."

There was a pause on the other line, and then: "I'll be there in five minutes."

"Okay! See you then."

The phone went silent and he realized she hung up on him. He tried to scowl at the phone but he was still smiling.

Percy moved around his apartment picking up dolls, clothes and dishes so Annabeth wouldn't think he was a messy person even though he really was.

"Here, Lilly, come here," Percy said, motioning for her. She set her now clean plate down and reached up for him.

"I'll put in Cinderella for you, okay?" She rubbed her eyes and nodded. He should have put her down for a nap an hour ago.

Percy walked out of Lilly's room a few minutes later, shutting the door behind him just as someone knocked on his door. He quickly moved forward and opened the door.

Annabeth was standing in front of the door, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hey," she said, smiling slightly. Percy's heart thumped painfully.

"Hi."

Annabeth's eyes darted to his bare chest before they moved back to his face. She waited.

"Oh, right. Come in."

Annabeth nodded slightly and brushed past him, trying way too hard not to touch him. She took a seat on the couch and turned her head to look expectantly at him. He shut the door and sat down next to her.

"Percy," Annabeth started, her fingers knotted nervously in her lap. "I just wanted...I wanted to apologize for being so rude." She brushed her hair away from her face and breathed out. "I treated you unfairly and I'm really sorry. I just...I don't want that kind of relation between us."

Percy felt as though someone had just punched him in the throat. "Oh," is all he said. He acted like that wasn't making his week the worst one yet.

"I know that...we had sex-" she said this very quickly as if she didn't want Percy to catch the words, "but I just want to remain friends, okay?"

"I-uh, okay," Percy said before swallowing hard. "Yeah, that's fine. Would you like to go out to lunch? Or I guess dinner."

"Um, I have plans, but thank you anyway. Where's Lilly?"

"She's taking a nap. We skipped worked today."

"I noticed," Annabeth said, smiling at him. "So is everything all right with Lilly's mom?" she asked, her posture becoming less stiff and more relaxed.

Percy shrugged. He had momentarily forgotten about Mia, but now that she was brought up, a heavy weight seemed to settle on his chest. "I don't really know," he admitted. "I'm not sure what to think about her moving back. Everything about her just...pisses me off. I don't know what it is but she just does. I can't believe I used to date someone like her."

"I'm sorry. Maybe you won't have to worry about her. I mean, just seeing her at the grocery store was pretty rare," Annabeth replied, offering him a gentle smile that seem to take some of the worry away.

He nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

Annabeth leaned back a little. "You know, when I first met you I was sure you didn't worry about a thing in the world," she said.

Percy laughed. "You must be very bad at first impressions."

"Not really. You've been pretty care free until now."

"Care free my ass," Percy scoffed. Annabeth rolled her eyes just as Lilly's bedroom door opened. Lilly stepped out clutching a purple elephant to her chest.

"I can't sleep," Lilly mumbled, frowning. She climbed into Percy's lap and snuggled up to him. "Hi," she said to Annabeth, peeking at her through the hair that had fallen out of her plaits from yesterday.

"Hello," Annabeth replied. Lilly smiled at her and her eyes shut. "I've got to go," Annabeth continued. "I'll see you two later."

She smiled at Percy and put her hand on his shoulder then rubbed Lilly's back.

"Bye," she called, opening the door.

"Bye," Percy replied, watching her as she left.

Well, it wasn't exactly what Percy was expecting, but he would definitely take friendship over her ignoring him any day.

Hi okay for the people who are saying this story is boring, I'm sorry, but I have to get a nice build up unless you just want this to be ten chapters long. And Annabeth's past is coming up soon, okay? Just stick with me, please.